Image of brain astrocyte cell
Nano-Drugs Take Aim at Brain Cells
The blood-brain barrier once stopped medication from reaching the brain. Researchers have found their way through.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Your selections: Tools and Techniques
Brain Trauma
See for yourself what happens to the brain during a head injury. This short video is a great resource to enhance your lesson plans.
  • PBS
Brain-machine Interface: A Multi-disciplinary Approach Shows Progress
Apostolos P. Georgopoulos, M.D., Ph.D., discusses the large effort expended in developing and testing BMIs and the ultimate goal of long-term safe and useful application of BMI technology to humans.
  • The Dana Foundation
Connectivity
Do lost connections between brain regions guarantee impaired function? Imaging techniques show normal functional activity in people with missing links, spurring scientists to say: not necessarily.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Image of the Week: Primate Photocreceptor Cones
Neurons in the eye turn light into electrical signals. How and where signals travel between these cells is thought to affect vision.
Kinds of Research
Scientists who study the brain do so for many reasons. For some, the opportunity to study the most complex living structure in the known universe is itself an exciting quest. So much is still unknown about brain function and development.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Illuminating the Brain
The discovery of a protein that gives jellyfish their colorful glow revolutionized scientists' view of the nervous system, allowing them to add color to what had only been seen in black and white.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
What is transcranial magnetic stimulation, and what is it used for?
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a method for electrically stimulating the brain from the outside of the skull.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Do cell phones cause brain cancer?
Over the past two decades there have been many studies aimed at detecting a risk of brain cancer associated with cell phone use.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Optical Imaging and Other Techniques
Optical imaging relies on shining weak lasers through the skull to visualize brain activity. These techniques are inexpensive and relatively portable. They are also silent and safe: Because only extremely weak lasers are used, these methods can be used to study everyone, even infants.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Positron Emission Tomography
PET is one of the most important techniques for measuring blood flow or energy consumption in the brain. This method of measuring brain function is based on the detection of radioactivity emitted when positrons, positively charged particles, undergo radioactive decay in the brain.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Providing a high-quality, three-dimensional image of organs and structures inside the body without X-rays or other radiation, MRIs are noninvasive and unsurpassed in the anatomical detail they show.
  • BrainFacts/SfN
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Medical professionals have come to rely on even more specialized forms of the MRI machine, each suited to spotting specific warning signs.
  • BrainFacts/SfN

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An interactive brain map that you can rotate in a three-dimensional space.
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